Method and system for commissioning articles which are suitable for a central belt and articles which are not suitable for a central belt

ABSTRACT

A method and a commissioning system are provided for commissioning articles (A 1 ) which are suitable for a central belt in a central belt commissioning system and articles (A 2 ) which are not suitable for a central belt, preferably manually from an article warehouse or shelf ( 5 ), wherein articles which are suitable for a central belt ( 1 ) are commissioned and automatically fall directly onto the driven central belt ( 1 ) in a targeted manner, and at the end of the central belt they fall into a stationary container or immediately into a container ( 10 ) arranged on the driven central belt. The articles (A 2 ) which are not suitable for a central belt are commissioned manually in containers ( 10 ) in a commissioning path to the right and/or left of the central belt ( 1 ) of the central belt commissioning device and are directly fed to a dispatching station or preferably to the central belt commissioning device for commissioning with articles (A 1 ) which are suitable for a central belt.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a United States National Phase application ofInternational Application PCT/EP2003/007899 filed Jul. 18, 2000 andclaims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of GermanApplication DE 102 35 900.8 filed Aug. 6, 2002, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to a method and a commissioning systemfor commissioning articles which are suitable for a central belt in acentral belt commissioning device and articles which are not suitablefor a central belt manually from an article warehouse or shelf, in whicharticles which are suitable for a central belt are commissioned mostlymanually from a commissioning unit into feed trays via a central beltand they then fall automatically from the feed trays in a targetedmanner directly onto the driven central belt and from there into astationary container or immediately into a container arranged on thedriven central belt at the end of the central belt.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prior-art central commissioning devices, e.g., the so-called automaticA-frame unit, as well as semi-manual commissioning systems, in whicharticles are first distributed onto a central belt and subsequently intoa container, have, in general, the drawback that only articles that canwithstand this handling without being damaged can be commissioned.

Articles that are too large, too heavy or too fragile for such ahandling must first be placed, as before, either onto a belt or pushedout automatically in a so-called “pick-to-belt system,” by which saidbelt they are brought to a packing station or are packed in a shippingcontainer or cardboard box in a machine built especially for thispurpose, or the articles are placed directly from a commissioning shelfinto a shipping container or cardboard box or are packed by a machinebuilt especially for this purpose.

It may happen in modern commissioning warehouses that commissioning isto be performed in a mix of articles, which is composed of both articleswhich are suitable for a central belt, i.e., are relatively lightweightand robust, and articles which are not suitable for a central belt,i.e., are relatively large, heavy or fragile. Such article compositionscan be found, for example, in drug stores, the food industry and in theelectronics wholesale business.

The procedure followed hitherto in such cases is to separate this mix ofarticles into articles which are suitable for a central belt, which canbe fed to a central commissioning device, in order to utilize theadvantages of such a device in commissioning, and articles which are notsuitable for a central belt, which continue to be packed into shippingcontainers or cardboard boxes manually or by means of a machine builtespecially for this purpose. Such a separation is performed, inprinciple, such that warehouse sites that are different in space, whichalso differ in terms of their commissioning means, are either connectedwith one another over relatively long paths by means of materialshandling technology or are handled in a separated manner. It isdisadvantageous that a plurality of warehouse areas must bedistinguished, and a corresponding dividing of the articles must becarried out. Furthermore, there is the drawback that in the case ofcommissions that require articles from both areas, namely, articleswhich are suitable for a central belt and articles which are notsuitable for a central belt, it is either necessary to travel over along path, as a result of which the transit times of the commissionsbecome longer, or it is necessary to provide two different containersfor one commission.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a method as well as acommissioning system for commissioning both articles which are suitablefor a central belt and articles which are not suitable for a centralbelt, which is characterized by its simplicity and efficiency.

Based on the commissioning described in the introduction, the methodaccording to the present invention is characterized in that the articleswhich are not suitable for a central belt are preferably commissioned bythe same commissioning unit manually in containers or in a commissioningpath directly to the right and/or left of the central belt of thecentral commissioning device and are fed directly to a dispatchingstation or preferably to the central belt commissioning device forcommissioning with articles which are suitable for a central belt, and,in particular, the containers are filled manually with articles whichare not suitable for a central belt on at least one conveying track inthe commissioning area of the central belt in parallel to the centralbelt or in at least one discharge station of the conveying track, andthat the containers filled with articles which are not suitable for acentral belt are transferred either directly to the shipping station orfor further filling with articles which are suitable for a central beltpreferably by the same commissioning unit directly to the central beltor a removing path, which transfers the containers filled with articleswhich are not suitable for a central belt to the end of the central beltfor further filling with articles which are suitable for a central belt.

Consequently, a conveying track is provided preferably in the form of afree roller path in the commissioning area of the central belt inparallel to the central belt in the mixed commissioning system accordingto the present invention for articles which are suitable for a centralbelt and articles which are not suitable for a central belt, andcontainers are arranged on the conveying path for manual filling witharticles which are not suitable for a central belt, wherein thecontainers filled with articles which are not suitable for a centralbelt can be transferred either directly to the dispatching station or,for further filling with articles which are suitable for a central belt,directly to the driven central belt or a removing path, which deliversthe containers filled with articles which are not suitable for a centralbelt to the end of the central belt for further filling with articleswhich are suitable for a central belt.

The central belt in the commissioning system according to the presentinvention is preferably located in a bay aisle of a double shelf, whichhas two parallel shelves located at spaced locations from one another,and with which a conveying track each, which is preferably close to thefloor, is associated.

The conveying section may be integrated here in the shelf and be astructural component of the shelf at least partially.

However, the conveying track may also be arranged in the area of thecentral belt and be a structural component of the central belt system atleast partially.

The removing path may be arranged above the central belt in parallel tothe central belt or, as an alternative, directly next to the conveyingtrack in a parallel arrangement, preferably at the same level as theconveying track.

The conveying track(s), removing path(s) and/or the central belt may bepreferably provided with discharge stations.

Thus, the present invention pertains to a central belt commissioningdevice especially of the type described in the introduction, in whicharticles are preferably commissioned at first mostly manually in feedtrays above a central belt and then fall automatically from the feedtrays onto the central belt and from there they enter a container, orthey fall immediately into a container arranged on the central belt,combined with conventional commissioning technology in the form of atleast one conveying track, especially a free roller path, or a materialshandling technology with commissioning stations and discharge stationsin a number of variants.

The articles may remain in the same path either in the completely mixedform or divided at least only within the same commissioning path, whichforms a system. As a result, the advantages of the central beltcommissioning unit, namely, the higher commissioning output due toautomation or due to the elimination of the handling of containers, canbe utilized in the mixed commissioning system according to the presentinvention without having to accept the drawbacks of that system, namely,the lack of possibility of handling articles which are not suitable fora central belt.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses,reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter inwhich preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be explained in greater detail below on thebasis of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings attached;in the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first embodiment variantof a mixed commissioning system for articles which are suitable for acentral belt and articles which are not suitable for a central beltwithin a commissioning path, with a central belt and two shelvesarranged at spaced locations from one another;

FIG. 2 is a second embodiment variant of the mixed commissioning systemsimilar to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a third embodiment variant of the mixed commissioning systemsimilar to FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a fourth embodiment variant of the mixed commissioning systemsimilar to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a fifth and sixth embodiment variant of the mixedcommissioning system similar to FIGS. 1 through 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic top view of the sixth embodiment variant of themixed commissioning system according to FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a seventh embodiment variant of amixed commissioning system; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of the seventh embodiment variant of thecommissioning system according to FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to FIG. 1, a first embodiment variant of a mixed commissioningsystem for commissioning articles A1 which are suitable for a centralbelt comprises a central belt commissioning device 20 with a centralbelt 1 which is directly associated with or is arranged in the vicinityof a commissioning system for commissioning articles A2 which are notsuitable for a central belt with a double shelf comprising two parallelshelves 5, which are arranged at spaced locations from one another andform a bay aisle.

The central belt 1 of the central belt commissioning device is locatedin the bay aisle between the two shelves 5 centrally and in parallel,and, furthermore, two rows of feed trays 2 are provided above thecentral belt 1 slightly offset laterally to the right and left. Aremoving path 3, which leads at its outlet (not shown) or longitudinalend to the corresponding longitudinal end of the central belt 1, islocated centrally above the central belt 1.

A horizontal conveying track 7 each in the form of a free roller path,on which containers 10 are located for the manual commissioning ofarticles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt, is integrated inthe area of the lowermost planes of the shelves 5 on the aisle sidebetween the shelves. The free roller path is designed as a so-calledstraight pushing track, which extends in parallel to the central belt 1,which is located adjacent but at a spaced location.

The arrangement is thus selected to be such that a commissioning path isformed for at least one commissioning unit each within the bay aisleboth to the right and to the left of the central belt 1, and thecommissioning unit is manually easily accessible to both the conveyingtrack 7 facing it and the containers 10 of the conveying track and thefeed tray 2 facing it and the central removing path 3.

Thus, the aforementioned first embodiment variant comprises a centralbelt commissioning device, e.g., of the type described in theintroduction, with a central belt 1, feed trays 2 and an additionalremoving path 3 above the central belt 1, on which [said removing path]the containers 10, which were picked manually, are removed. Furthermore,the first embodiment variant comprises two manual pushing tracks in theform of two conveying tracks 7 in the shelves 5.

The commissioning operation takes place as follows.

Empty containers 10 or cardboard boxes are placed in advance on the freeroller path or on the corresponding conveying track 7, usually in thestation in which they are processed. The articles A2 which are notsuitable for a central belt are then commissioned manually into thecontainers 10 or cardboard boxes, which are pushed further on theconveying tracks 7 in the shelf 5. The filled containers/cardboard boxesare then pushed or lifted by the corresponding commissioning unit overonto the central removing path 3 located above the central belt 1 andthey reach from there the transfer point of the longitudinal end of thesubjacent central belt 1.

The articles A1 which are suitable for a central belt are commissionedor filled preferably simultaneously at first into the feed trays 2 orinto automatic channels, e.g., a high-speed automatic rotating unit.They are ejected from there automatically onto a defined point of thecentral belt 1 and filled at the end of the central belt 1 into theabove-mentioned, prefilled containers 10 or cardboard boxes, in whichthe articles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt have alreadybeen commissioned. If a container/cardboard box is filled completely orthe commissioning order is concluded, the containers/cardboard boxes aremoved in the direction of the dispatching station after strapping,labeling, etc.

Thus, articles A1 which are suitable for a central belt and articles A2which are not suitable for a central belt can be commissioned in themixed commissioning system at any time and at any place.

The removing track 3 may optionally lead directly to the dispatchingstation, bypassing the transfer point or the outlet of the central belt1. The articles which are not suitable for a central belt now reach thedispatching station directly unmixed. Corresponding statements can alsobe made for the articles which are suitable for a central belt.

The embodiment variant according to FIG. 2 corresponds essentially tothe variant according to FIG. 1. However, the central removing track 3is replaced above the central belt 1 by two independent removing tracks4 or belts in the shelves 5 to the left and right of the commissioningpath. The removing tracks 4 are located in the close proximity of and atthe same level as the corresponding conveying track 7 and are likewiseintegrated in the corresponding shelf 5 in the lower shelf plane. Thefurther conveying of the containers 10 can again take place eitherdirectly to the dispatching station or at the end of the system at firstto the transfer site of the central belt 1, at which the articles A1which are suitable for a central belt are transferred into the container10, in which the articles A2 which are not suitable for a central beltare already commissioned.

The two conveying tracks 7 of the shelves 5 to the left and right of thecentral belt 1 may be designed not only as simple pushing tracks, butalso as conventional commissioning stations with automatic dischargeinto same.

The second embodiment variant differs from the first embodiment variantin terms of the commissioning function only in that the lifting off ofthe containers 10 with the commissioned articles which are not suitablefor a central belt from the conveying tracks 7 into the shelves 5 andthe pushing over onto the central removing track 3 via the central beltwithin the middle of the path are eliminated. The containers 10 arepushed here over directly from the conveying tracks 7 onto the innerremoving tracks 4 in the shelves 5.

If the removing tracks 4 are provided with discharge stations, it ispossible in this variant to select the containers/cardboard boxes forthe articles which are not suitable for a central belt in the shelfareas only by which articles are actually needed. As a result, thecontainers can, in turn, be placed centrally on the conveying track 7,because the commissioning is not interfered with by empty containersthat do not need any articles from the corresponding shelf area.

Presorting of the articles for a certain container to a certain shelfarea may likewise be eliminated or it does not need to be handled sostrictly, even if such presorting still minimizes the path of thecontainers/cardboard boxes along the shelves or the approachedcommissioning stations and increases the commissioning output as aresult.

The third embodiment variant according to FIG. 3 corresponds essentiallyto the first embodiment variant according to FIG. 1, but without anadditional removing belt or removing track 3. The containers 10 with thearticles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt are removed on thecentral belt 1 of the central belt commissioning device. In thisvariant, the articles which are suitable for a central belt are notthrown directly onto the central belt 1 from the central beltcommissioning device and transferred into the containers only at the endof the central belt, but they are transferred directly into containers10′, which are conveyed through the warehouse on the single central belt1. Containers 10 with articles A2 which are not suitable for a centralbelt run mixed with containers 10 containing articles A1 which aresuitable for a central belt.

Consequently, the embodiment variant according to FIG. 3 differs fromthat according to FIG. 1 in terms of the commissioning function in thatthe containers/cardboard boxes with the articles A2 which are notsuitable for a central belt are placed, as soon as they are completelycommissioned, directly on the central belt 1, on which the containerswith the articles A1 containing the articles which are suitable for acentral belt also run, rather than on a central removing track 3, whichis absent here.

The fourth embodiment variant according to FIG. 4 differs from the firstembodiment variant according to FIG. 1 in that the additional pushingtracks or conveying tracks 7 are not integrated in the shelves 5, butalready extend next to the central belt 1. Space can be saved as aresult. The articles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt arecommissioned in the containers/cardboard boxes directly to the right orleft of the central belt 1. After commissioning, the containers 10 arepushed or lifted over onto the central removing track 3 above thecentral belt 1.

The fifth exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 5 correspondsessentially to that according to FIG. 4. The containers with thearticles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt are, however, notpushed over onto the central removing track 3 above the central belt 1,but directly onto the central belt 1 similarly to FIG. 3.

The sixth embodiment variant corresponds essentially to the embodimentvariant according to FIG. 5, but it additionally provides for dischargestations 9 at the only central belt 1, as this is apparent especiallyfrom the top view in FIG. 6, so that the pushing tracks becomeconventional manual commissioning stations. As a result, thecontainers/cardboard boxes do not have to be placed first on the systemin the corresponding commissioning stations, but they can be charged inat a central loading point for the entire system or for a plurality ofcommissioning systems and discharged again at the correspondingcommissioning stations. The amount of containers to be handled in thestations decreases as a result, as does the handling of the containers.The commissioning output is high.

The seventh embodiment variant according to FIGS. 7 and 8 has a handlingas is described, in principle, in the variants 1 through 6, but it isseparated for articles A1 which are suitable for a central belt andarticles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt, but neverthelesswithin the same commissioning path or system. The articles A2 which arenot suitable for a central belt are advantageously concentrated in sucha system at the beginning of the commissioning path when viewed in thedirection of conveying, because articles A1 which are suitable for acentral belt can then still be commissioned in the running flow by meansof an automatic commissioning unit, without thus having to run over alonger path.

As an alternative, arrangement of the articles A2 which are not suitablefor a central belt at the end of a commissioning path is possible inthis embodiment variant. The articles A1 which are suitable for acentral belt are now complemented ultimately mainly manually witharticles A2 which are not suitable for a central belt. This has theadvantage that the articles of the central belt commissioning devicefirst fall into the empty container and as a result, they do not jumpout of the container/cardboard box with a high probability.

Consequently, the articles which are suitable for a central belt areseparated from the articles which are not suitable for a central beltwithin the commissioning path in the seventh embodiment variant. Thecentral belt system as well as the conventional commissioning systemwith pushing tracks or commissioning stations or discharge stations canbe made shorter here, namely, in the area in which the particulararticles which are suitable for a central belt and the articles whichare not suitable for a central belt are stored. Costs can thus be savedwhile the transit times are still short and the containers may be mixedif desired.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the application of the principles ofthe invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise without departing from such principles.

1. A method for commissioning articles, the method comprising the stepsof: providing a double shelf unit including two parallel shelving unitsarranged at spaced locations from one another to define a bay aisle;providing a plurality of containers; positioning a central belt withinsaid bay aisle such that one shelving unit is located on one side ofsaid central belt and another shelving unit is located on another sideof said central belt, said central belt being associated with a centralbelt commissioning device, said central belt commissioning deviceincluding a discharge station; providing conveying tracks, one conveyingtrack being parallel to another conveying track, each conveying trackdefining a commissioning path, one conveying track being associated withone of said shelving units on one side of said central belt, anotherconveying track being associated with another of said shelving units onanother side of said central belt, said containers being located on saidconveying tracks; providing a plurality of first articles, each firstarticle having a transportation property such that each first articlecan be transported via said central belt; providing a plurality ofsecond articles, said second articles being located on one of saidshelves, each second article having a transportation property such thateach second article cannot be transported via said central belt;transferring said second articles from said shelves into saidcontainers; automatically moving said first articles from a locationabove said central belt to a location on said central belt; transportingsaid containers with said second articles to said discharge station orto said central belt for commissioning with said first articles, whereinsaid first articles are placed in said containers with said secondarticles when said containers with said second articles are transferredto said central belt; and transferring said first articles from saidcentral belt to a stationary container arranged at an end of saidcentral belt when said containers with said second articles aretransported to said discharge station.
 2. A method in accordance withclaim 1, further comprising the steps of: providing a removing track;and transferring said containers filled with said second articles viasaid removing track when said containers with said second articles aretransferred to said end of said central belt via said removing track,wherein said first articles are placed into said containers filled withsaid second articles.
 3. A method in accordance with claim 1, whereinsaid conveying tracks are parallel to said central belt.
 4. Acommissioning system for commissioning articles, the system comprising:a central belt associated with an article commissioning devicedischarging station; a first shelving unit located on one side of saidcentral belt; a second shelving unit located on another side of saidcentral belt at a spaced location from said first shelving unit todefine a bay aisle, said first shelving unit being parallel to saidsecond shelving unit, said central belt being located within said bayaisle such that said central belt extends parallel to said firstshelving unit and said second shelving unit; a plurality of firstarticles, each first article having a transportation property such thateach first article can be transported via said central belt; a pluralityof second articles located on said first shelving unit and said secondshelving unit, each second article having a transportation property suchthat each second article cannot be transported via said central belt; ameans for automatically moving said plurality of first articles ontosaid central belt; a first container; a second container; a firstconveying track in the form of a free roller path associated with saidfirst shelving unit, said first container being arranged on said firstconveying track, said first container receiving one or more said secondarticles from said first shelving unit; a second conveying track in theform of a free roller path associated with said second shelving unit,said second container being arranged on said second conveying track,said second container receiving one or more said second articles fromsaid second shelving unit; a removing track, said containers filled withsaid second articles being transferred to said discharging station or tosaid central belt for further filling with said first articles or tosaid removing track such that said removing track conveys saidcontainers filled with said second articles to the end of the centralbelt for further filling with said first articles.
 5. A commissioningsystem in accordance with claim 4, wherein said first shelving unit hasa first shelf and a second shelf, said first shelf being parallel tosaid second shelf, said first shelf being arranged at a spaced locationfrom said second shelf, said second shelving unit having one shelf andanother shelf, said one shelf being parallel to said another shelf, saidone shelf being arranged at a spaced location from said another shelf,said first conveying track and said second conveying track being locatedclose to the floor.
 6. A commissioning system in accordance with claim5, wherein the first conveying track is designed as a first conveyingtrack integrated in the first shelf and is a structural component of thefirst shelf at least partially, said second conveying track beingintegrated in said another shelf, said second conveying track being astructural component of said another shelf at least partially.
 7. Acommissioning system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the conveyingtrack is arranged in the area of the central belt and is a structuralcomponent of the central belt commissioning device at least partially,said second conveying track being arranged in said area of said centralbelt, said second conveying track being a structural component of saidcentral belt commissioning device at least partially.
 8. A commissioningsystem in accordance with claim 4, wherein said first conveying track isdesigned as a first conveying track integrated in said first shelf andis a structural component of the first shelf at least partially, saidsecond conveying track being integrated in said another shelf, saidsecond conveying track being a structural component of said anothershelf at least partially.
 9. A commissioning system in accordance withclaim 4, wherein the first conveying track is arranged in the area ofthe central belt and is a structural component of the central beltcommissioning device at least partially, said second conveying trackbeing arranged in said area of said central belt, said second conveyingtrack being a structural component of said central belt commissioningdevice at least partially.
 10. A commissioning system in accordance withclaim 4, wherein the removing track is arranged above the central belt.11. A commissioning system in accordance with claim 4, wherein theremoving track is provided directly next to the first conveying trackand the second conveying track in a parallel arrangement, at the samelevel.
 12. A commissioning system in accordance with claim 5, whereinthe first conveying track, the second conveying track, the removingtrack or the central belt is provided with at least one said dischargestation.
 13. A commissioning system in accordance with claim 4, whereinsaid first conveying track and said second conveying track are parallelto said central belt.
 14. A method for commissioning articles, themethod comprising the steps of: providing a driven central beltassociated with a central belt commissioning device, said central beltcommissioning device including discharge station providing central beltarticles which are movable along the central belt at a position abovethe central belt such that said central belt articles are able to falldirectly onto the driven central belt; providing sensitive articleswhich are not movable along the central belt in an article shelvingsystem, said shelving system comprising a first shelving unit located onone side of said central belt and a second shelving unit located onanother side of said central belt, said first shelving unit and saidsecond shelving unit defining an aisle, said central belt being locatedin said aisle; commissioning central belt articles in the central beltcommissioning device from the central belt into a stationary containeror into a container arranged at the end of the central belt; removingone or more said sensitive articles from at least one said shelving unitand placing one or more said sensitive articles in one or morecontainers in a commissioning path to the right and left of the centralbelt of the central belt commissioning device, said commissioning pathbeing defined by a first conveying track associated with said firstshelving unit and a second conveying track associated with said secondshelving unit, said first conveying track and said second conveyingtrack being located at a spaced location from said central belt, whereina portion of said first conveying track and a portion of said secondconveying track extends parallel to said central belt; and sending thesensitive articles in the containers directly to the discharging stationor to the central belt commissioning device for commissioning with thecentral belt articles.
 15. A method in accordance with claim 14, whereinsaid containers with sensitive articles are transferred either directlyto the discharging station or for further filling with said central beltarticles, directly to the central belt or to a removing track such thatsaid removing track transfers the containers filled with said sensitivearticles to the end of the central belt for further filling with saidcentral belt articles.
 16. A method in accordance with claim 14, whereinsaid first shelving unit is parallel to said second shelving unit.
 17. Amethod in accordance with claim 14, wherein a portion of said firstconveying track is parallel to a portion of said second conveying track.18. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein said first conveyingtrack is located on one side of said central belt and said secondconveying track is located on another side of said central belt.